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- The quality of local democracy: an institutional analysisPublication . Sousa, Luis de; da Cruz, Nuno F.; Fernandes, DanielMuch of the literature on quality of democracy is case study-oriented and focused on nation states. Theoretical work and, in particular, comparative empirical research on the quality of local democracy are less advanced. This paper contributes to our understanding of how democracy works from below. It develops a conceptual framing and employs a multidimensional index of the quality of democracy across all 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal by focusing on procedural dimensions of democratic performance at three levels of legitimacy: input, throughput, and output. Regression analysis is then used as a preliminary test of the usefulness of these measures of quality of local democracy and to uncover associations between them and a range of political and socioeconomic factors. The results suggest that municipalities led by independent mayors, with larger populations and higher levels of multiculturalism are likelier to be associated with ‘better’ local democracy.
- Perspetivas geracionais da corrupção em Portugal: uma visão comparada entre jovens e senioresPublication . Clemente, Felippe; Sousa, Luis de
- Political corruption in PortugalPublication . Sousa, Luis de; Coroado, Susana
- Corruption controlPublication . Sousa, Luis de
- Knowledge of official ethical standards and tolerance towards corruption: An exploratory studyPublication . Sousa, Luis de; Clemente, Felippe; Calca, PatríciaCorruption is often defined as a deviant conduct from established legal and formal norms and expected ways of behaving in the exercise of official duties and the discharge of official responsibilities. Readiness to tolerate corruption will hinge primarily upon the evaluator’s understanding of what those ethical standards are. This means that citizens’ willingness to accept corruption as something “normal” to the functioning of democracy or “beneficial” to economic development is likely to be affected by how knowledgeable they are about the ethical standards of governing public office. Such knowledge can be instilled by academic and experiential learning. So, we question to what extent citizens’ knowledge of official ethical standards affect their tolerance towards corruption? Based on new individual level data collected from six focus groups conducted in Portugal, we show a possible negative association between the appropriate knowledge of official ethical standards and tolerance towards corruption. The results are exploratory, but sufficiently interesting to test our hypothesis with a larger sample.
- Deontological and Consequentialist Ethics and Attitudes Towards Corruption: A Survey Data AnalysisPublication . Megías, Adrián; Sousa, Luis de; Jiménez-Sánchez, FernandoMuch of the empirical research on corruption for the past 45 years has focused on perception-based definitions and measurements. Citizens’ perceptions, their attitudes and (self)reported experiences of corruption have been widely studied through different perception-based measures obtained in surveys, interviews, and experiments applied to citizens in general, and experts, business leaders, politicians, or public officials. Notwithstanding the significant progress made to understand the complexity of citizens’ understandings, judgements and practices, we are still unable to decipher by what criteria they establish what is or is not corruption and what types of corruption are susceptible of being condemned/tolerated. This paper makes an innovative contribution to fill this gap. We propose a methodological design to identify and measure different perception-based definitions of corruption based on two contrasting normative perspectives: deontological and consequentialist ethics. We identified four groups: the Virtuous; the Intransigent; the Pragmatic; and the Hypocrite. Using survey data from a national sample of Portuguese citizens, we employ discriminant analysis and logistic regression models to differentiate individual profiles in terms of process- and outcome-based social definitions of corruption and explore the explanatory factors that account for these different conceptualisations and their different degree of tolerance towards corruption.
- As perceções ibéricas sobre a corrupção: uma análise comparativa entre Espanha e PortugalPublication . Megías, Adrián; Gouvêa Maciel, G.; Jiménez Sánchez, Fernando; Sousa, Luis de
- Understanding corruption through the analysis of court case content: research notePublication . Sousa, Luis de; Calca, PatríciaPurpose The two main objectives of this project were to advance knowledge about the way corruption and related offences are structured and operate in society and to draw inferences on the efficiency and efficacy of the judicial authorities in handling reported offences with the ultimate goal of improving and effecting control policies. Design/methodology/approach In this research note the authors attempt to explore the relevance of judicial materials. The authors developed an analytical framework to extract information from court case decisions and analysed 838 court cases on corruption and related offences in Portuguese first instance courts for the period 2004–2008 to map the distribution of corruption and related offences, understand the anatomy of corruption as a criminal offence and learn from the judicial system's capacity to investigate, prosecute and trial reported occurrences. Findings Most corruption cases took place in the major metropolitan areas, involved municipalities as passive agents and construction companies as active agents and had to do with urban sprawl and land management policies. Court data also allowed the authors to gauge the areas or sectors of activity more exposed to corruption risks. Generally speaking, these tend to be those areas or sectors characterized by high levels of informality and clientelism, high profitability ratios deriving from political decisions, unbalanced supply-demand of decisional goods and services, disorganised and fragmented regulation, low levels of transparency and insufficient or misguided supervision. Research limitations/implications The framework for analysis is replicable in other contexts with minor adjustments. The major limitation is access to court decisions/narratives. This project was developed in partnership with the Portuguese Public Prosecutor's Office. This has facilitated access to those materials. For those wishing to use the database, the major limitation is that it covers only the period 2004–2008. Practical implications The court narratives confirm that in cases where the complaint is complemented by documentary, audio, video and photographic evidences collected by special investigative means the subsequent production of proof in court is more effective. The data also suggests that cases reported from inside the organisation where the offence takes place are likelier to reach the trial phase, thus reinforcing the need for diversifying and strengthening reporting mechanisms and procedures and the guarantees to those who are willing to collaborate with the auditing and investigative authorities. Social implications The authors contend that court cases of corruption and related offences yield important and useful policy-oriented information that should not be overlooked by decision-makers when upgrading their efforts to fight corruption. Originality/value This research note introduces a novel dataset on corruption court cases in Portugal. The policy significance of this dataset is threefold: (1) it provides decision-makers a more detailed mapping of the volume and distribution of corruption and related offences across the country than that provided by standard judicial statistics; (2) it fosters knowledge on key sociological aspects of the corrupt fact, thus helping decision-makers to understand better the type of actors, objectives, contexts, resources and exchanges involved and (3) it helps to understand the dynamics of judicial proceedings and how certain procedural and institutional features impact on outcomes.
- What Do We Talk about When We Talk about Ethics Regulation in Politics?Publication . Sousa, Luis de; Coroado, SusanaPolitical ethics strengthen the bonds of trust between citizens and their representatives, and therefore matter to the overall quality of democracy. Over the past three decades levels of trust in traditional democratic institutions—political parties, parliaments, and governments—have fallen. Concern to restore political trust has prompted countries to engage in a series of reforms to clarify what ethical standards should guide the conduct of political office holders and how they ought to be monitored and enforced. Political ethics regulatory regimes vary across countries and there is no perfect model. Some have set detailed legal standards to political actors, while externalizing their oversight and enforcement. Others have moved towards hybrid regimes, by opening the composition of their internal bodies to outsiders and by creating new independent oversight entities. A few have relied mainly on customary practice, peer pressure and internal disciplinary mechanisms, while outlining minimum legal standards to political office holders. The tendency is for hybrid regimes with internal norm-setting and enforcement but some degree of openness to external scrutiny. The objective of this introductory article is to set a conceptual and theoretical framework for the analysis of different regulatory approaches on political ethics.
- Exposição à corrupção e valores democráticos: dois perfis sociaisPublication . Rego, Raquel; Clemente, Felippe; Sousa, Luis de